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or her to glimpse the familiar dark blonde hair, the slender figure. ‘It isn’t...’ But as the yacht drew closer to the shore, she knew it was. ‘Anna,’ she breathed, and then she shouted it, waving frantically. ‘Anna... Anna!’
Tears sprang to Milly’s eyes as her sister caught sight of her and started waving back just as frantically, jumping up and down in her excitement.
Milly turned to Alex, blinking back tears, overwhelmed with emotion. ‘You did this,’ she exclaimed as tears spilled over and she dashed at them. ‘How...how on earth did you arrange it?’
He shrugged. ‘Bentano can be a reasonable man when he has the right incentive.’
‘But how...?’
Another shrug, the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth that lightened Milly’s heart even more. ‘He’s an ass, but he saw sense. Anna can stay here until she starts school in three weeks.’
‘What...?’ Milly breathed the word, hardly able to believe she had Anna for three whole weeks, and, even more poignantly, that Alex had thought to arrange it. How had he managed it? And when? ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘There’s no need to say anything.’
‘But there is. This was so kind of you, Alex. I wasn’t expecting...’ She paused, unsure how to continue. She hadn’t been expecting him to do nice things for her. It seemed to go beyond their business arrangement, and yet he had, and without any hint or hope from her. It overwhelmed her. It humbled her. And treacherously, it gave her hope that their marriage could be something just a little bit more than the cold and clinical deal he had first suggested. Not much more, of course, because neither of them wanted that. But a little. ‘When did you arrange it?’ she asked. ‘How was there time?’
‘I spoke to Bentano this morning, and fortunately for him he saw sense almost immediately. She flew on my private jet, and she arrived in Naxos just before us. Yiannis picked her up at the airstrip.’
What had Alex said or done to induce Bentano to agree? Milly couldn’t even imagine it, but she knew it must have been something big. And he’d done it for Anna...and for her. ‘Thank you, Alex,’ she said, her voice throbbing with sincerity.
And then, because that didn’t feel like enough, Milly stepped closer to him and put her arms around him in what was meant to be a simple hug, but immediately felt like something she shouldn’t have done.
Alex stiffened in shock, but not before their bodies collided, Milly’s breasts against the hard wall of his chest, her legs pressed to his so she could feel the outline of every powerful muscle. Heat flared within her, a white-hot pulse of sensation that jolted through her entire body and made her take a stumbling step back, shocked by the intensity of her feeling. Her desire. It ignited everything inside her, so she felt as if she were burning up. Had Alex registered her response, and was horrified by it? The thought was mortifying.
As Alex watched her step back, his expression closed right up, like the snapping shut of a fan. Milly realised she was already used to it, that emotional distancing he seemed to accomplish effortlessly. Clearly she’d stepped across a major line. ‘Alex...’ she began, but she had no idea how to explain what she’d been feeling, at least not without embarrassing herself. Her body still pulsed with a molten heat she’d never felt before, not even with Philippe. And Alex didn’t seem to want it from her now.
‘Milly!’ She turned to see Anna calling to her from just a few metres away as the yacht was moored at the dock. ‘Milly!’
‘I’m coming,’ she called, and when she turned back, Alex had disappeared.
As soon as Milly left the yacht, Alex still nowhere in sight, Anna practically jumped on her. Laughing, she hugged her sister, so grateful to be with her once again. It had been far too long.
‘I’ve missed you so much,’ Milly exclaimed as they both wiped away tears. ‘So, so much.’ It had been nearly a year since she’d last seen her sister. ‘I think you’ve grown a couple of inches, Anna.’ Her sister definitely looked a little older, and even more beautiful with her honey-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. There could be no more men stumbling into her bedroom, of that Milly was certain.
‘I can’t believe I’m here.’ Anna looked both emotional and thrilled. ‘This place is amazing, Milly. And you have so much to tell me. You’re getting married? How come you didn’t mention that on the phone, huh? That’s pretty big news.’
‘Ah. Well.’ Milly smiled weakly. ‘It’s hard to explain...’
‘What’s there to explain? Your fiancé sounds so nice. He insisted on flying me in his private jet.’ Her blue eyes rounded comically. ‘It was incredible. There were staff who just kept feeding me. I had the biggest ice-cream sundae I’ve ever seen.’
‘Wow.’ Milly let out a shaky laugh; her emotions were all over the place, from that sudden, surprising hug with Alex, to that terribly awkward moment afterwards, and now her sister with her for three whole weeks. Plus she had to explain her imminent wedding to her, and the reason for it. It all felt like too much. Her head and heart both ached, and, strangely, she wished Alex were here, helping her through this moment, although would he even be much help? Or would he just tersely tell her to get on with things, with that stony look on his face?
‘Why don’t we head back to the villa?’ she suggested, taking Anna’s arm.
‘Where’s Alex? I want to meet him.’ Anna craned her head, looking for Milly’s fiancé, but he still wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Milly suspected he’d absented himself on purpose, and would continue to do so, a prospect that gave her a little pang of sorrow as well as one of relief. It was easier this way, but it still felt lonely.
‘I think he’s working,’ she improvised. ‘He’s very busy with everything at the moment.’
‘He must be.’ Anna dropped her voice to a theatrical whisper. ‘Milly, he’s mega-rich!’
‘Yes, I know.’ Milly let out another little laugh. Like her, Anna had grown up on the fringes of an aristocratic world yet with no money. Like Milly, Anna was used to second-rate schools and draughty, crumbling buildings; neglect and genteel poverty were the standards by which she’d been raised. Milly had had six months to get used to the luxury of the villa; Anna was seeing it all for the first time.
‘So how did you meet?’ Anna asked as they walked up the winding, rocky path towards the house. ‘Was it love at first sight?’
Milly thought of Alex’s curt proposal in his shadowy study, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. How on earth could she explain the business deal she’d made to her starry-eyed fourteen-year-old sister? She almost wished Alex had told her about Anna’s arrival, so she could have prepared what she’d say. How she’d explain.
‘It’s a long story,’ she said as they stepped inside the villa, the thick stone walls providing a blessed coolness. ‘Have you eaten? Let me get you something...’
